


Future Buddies

by 1785ATTZT



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Headcanon, My First Fanfic, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1785ATTZT/pseuds/1785ATTZT
Summary: As his hopes of returning to the present start to dwindle, Twoie was getting exhausted from having to let it all happen, and lying along the way. He could change the future, but should he?Garnet has always bore the responsibility of knowing the future alone. The way of thinking was born from the desire to create the best possible future was already ingrained in her mind. She had dealt with that kind of thing since the beginning, and was ready to do whatever it takes for the future, as did he.What's more natural than them working together to make it better?(future AU but Twoie and past Garnet work together to save the future)inspired by the time travel AU: https://sutimetravelau.tumblr.com/First chapter takes place sometime after Future Vision and before Marble Madness)
Relationships: Garnet & Steven Universe, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Comments: 45
Kudos: 304
Collections: Waiting for an Update GIGA-XISBASS Edition





	1. The Future

“Why am I here?”

Twoie has been living in his past for a few months now, even if it wasn't exactly _his_ past anymore. Try as he might, some little things have been changed, some corrupted gems got bubbled early and a few conflicts were de-escalated before they could get as bad as they did originally. It was looking ever less likely that he was coming back to his time, and he was starting to get used to everything. Everything except all the lying. All the suffering that could be completely avoided, if only he knew what would happen if he decided to change things. He was never going to get used to that. 

But how would he even know if such changes would be for the better? He was _fine_ with his present. Everyone, by the end, had gotten ahold of themselves, taken control of their futures and were living wonderful, free lives in a peaceful Era 3. Everyone but him, really.

He pondered as he sighed, alone, watching the ceiling, lying in the couch. Steven was asleep and the Gems were all doing their business. Twoie stared into that god-forsaken painting of Rose, of Pink Diamond. He had tried to distance himself as much as possible from her, he had fixed almost every mistake she had made that he knew of. So why was he here? Why did he have to live through this all over again, while lying to everyone?

He knew it was for the best and he had no problem with his suffering so long as everyone else had to suffer less, and that’s exactly what his present was all about. It could only be the right thing to do… But it didn’t _feel_ right. Couldn’t he prevent more problems, now that he was here in the past? _Shouldn’t he_? Or should he do as much as he could to make his future happen?

He hadn’t even noticed that Garnet was crouched next to him, trying to get a read on his face. “Something on your mind?” She asked.

“Aaaaah!” Twoie yelped as he fell off the couch, surprised. “Garnet, you’re awake! What’s up?”

“That’s the question, Twoie. Can you tell me what’s on your mind?”

She sits in the couch next to him, gesturing him to sit up with her. He obliges.

“There are so many things…” He looks skyward, tired. “I can’t tell you. Things you deserve to know. Things they deserve to know, and suffering that could be avoided, people who could be helped if-” He grasps at the air in frustration. She looks at him in familiarity: She knows this feeling all too well. “But I can’t risk it. There’s so much that could spiral out of control, I- “

“You don’t want to risk changing a good enough future, even if there’s possibly avoidable damage?” He nods. “I get it, Steven, believe me. If anyone here could ever get it, it’s me.” Garnet looks down, taking off her visor. “More than once during the war have I had to let gems shatter so that the battle was won or so that more lives were saved. Future vision is as useful as it is cruel. It’s a big responsibility.” Her eyes tremble at the thought as she is reminded of the fallen.

So, so many were left to shatter because it was the best outcome she saw. When she was young, she remembers trying to tell a gem, an Amethyst, that in every possible future she saw, she was shattered, and to try to change the future, to fight for her life. In those futures, the Amethyst either ran or left her comrades to die, causing even more damage. That’s the day she really learned to lie. It seems like the future Steven had already mastered it, but she knew the look too well. It reminded her of Rose. She should’ve expected him to grow up like her, which makes it ever the more strange how uncomfortable he got at the mere mention of her name.

“But that’s the problem, Garnet. I don’t know if more lives will be saved, I don’t know if the way I’d change things makes them better or worse in the long run. It just feels awful to lie to everyone and keep them in pain just so that the future I know happens! If only I could change _some_ things for the better without risking that. I just don’t want to have to be a liar lik-”

Twoie takes a deep breath as he feels the slight pink glow under his jacket start to fade. “I wish I could either go back or change things for the better, but all I can do now is stay and watch everyone suffer knowing it’ll all be better someday, so much better, things just have to get worse _before_ they get better.” His eyes are tired yet penetrating, focused at something far behind Garnet. He wasn't used to this, either, letting others suffer when he could do something about it, but that he knows could easily make it worse in the long run. It was in his nature to help people, he thought, but letting everyone hurt themselves for a greater good came surprisingly naturally to him.

She then puts her visor back on, stoic and ready. “I’m not sure what you mean by better, but you could tell *me* what happens in your future. I want you to know that.” She puts her hands on his shoulders. “I’ve had to deal with lying to everyone about future vision all my life. If your future is as worth fighting for as you say it is, I want to fight for it too.”

The offer surprised Twoie. “You know I can’t put that kind of pressure on you.”

“As the one who can saw the future, it’s your cross to bear, I know that. But for once,” she smiles “you don’t have to do it alone. And neither do I.”

He had never even thought of the possibility of telling Garnet. Of course she’d know what’s up, she’s been having to deal with decisions like those from the very beginning. He looks back at her. He puts his hand to his chin, pensative. “Alright, so if I told you that in the future, you might shatter or have something horrible to happen to you, you’d still do it? Just to make sure that my future still happens?”

“You’d have to tell me more about your future first. I am not shattering for nothing.”, she responds.

“That’s the entire problem! I can’t tell you, at least not yet. What would you let yourself be shattered for?”

Garnet thinks for a moment. That is a very hard question, but not one she hadn’t thought about before. “I don’t know for sure. Maybe curing the corruption and helping those poor gem experiments, that would be enough. Lasting peace on Earth, or even on Homeworld. The end of the Diamond tyranny.” She looks on, thoughtful. “There’s a lot of possibilities. I’m not sure any of them are likely, or even possible. Most of these problems are hundreds or thousands of years old.”

He laughs. “No spoilers just yet, but you’d be surprised! You actually got it almost exactly somehow.” He tilts his head sideways. “Maybe too close. Have I been dropping hints?”

Garnet goes agape with awe at the possibility of a peaceful Earth, filled with healed gems and a galaxy in peace. Then she thinks of what could possibly have happened as to make these things happen so quickly, tensing up. “At what cost? Please.”

“Don’t worry, you don’t get shattered in my future. Nobody does, actually.” Her eyes glimmer with wonder, and she relaxes. “You might break up.” Garnet shudders. “Only for a bit, though! You get married later and it’s great.” She looks at the gems in her hands and is now doing _that_ grin. “I guess I don’t need to ask to whom.”

They laugh for a bit, then she shushes Twoie and gestures for him to listen in. Steven is snoring loudly. “We can’t afford to wake him up, or have the others drop in suddenly. Let’s continue this conversation somewhere where there’s no risk of them listening.” He nods in agreement, as she starts to head for the warp pad. He grabs her hand and points to Lion instead. “I know a place, get on Lion.” They do as he whispers ‘hey, can you take me to the desert, where Mom kept all her old stuff, with the big pink mountains?’ to Lion, teasing him with a Lion Licker he found in the fridge. Lion yawns and leaves the beach house, picking up speed at the shore.

“Remember the Secret Team? I guess we’ll need a name.” Twoie ponders. “How about… Future buddies?” 

“I like it. Future buddies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: accidentally deleted the note that was here originally but basically just tell me if this is bad! first fic and all that


	2. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twoie tells Garnet the story of Pink Diamond.

“Oh yeah, I forgot there was a key…” Twoie thought out loud and scratched his head as Garnet watched intently, trying to ascertain where exactly they were. It was in the somewhere in the desert, probably not too far from where they had found Lion. She recognized the pink structure ahead as some kind of Gem spaceship buried in the sand, but she didn’t quite remember who it belonged to. “Oh yeah, we can just walk around it! Just don’t touch anything. He- I’ll find this place a long time from now, but nothing too important happens. Specifically, don't touch the pink thing.” They walked around the pink ‘cliffs’ and arrived at… a pile of trash? But whose trash? Garnet recognized some of the junk as… Rose’s? _Why was there a_ _spacesh_\- “So, Garnet this was- are you okay? You told me you were ready for this.”

“I’m fine, just… Why is there a spaceship in Rose’s… secret dump? I have so many questions.” she asks, mildly trembling. Twoie knew this was going to be the hardest part.

Twoie lays down and looks at the stars. “Look. There’s _a lot_ she didn’t tell you. She never told anyone about this place except for Lion, I think. There’s something you need to know, and I think it’s best if I tell you this now, before I tell you about the future. Sit tight and… Just let me finish before you ask any questions.” He sighs and closes his eyes, tired. “The future might be wonderful and great but _you've been lied to about the past._”

He breathes deeply as they sit down next to a pile of junk. “So… to understand everything, we have to go to the very beginning. When Pink Diamond got her first colony after begging for one from Blue and Yellow for so long, she was very excited. As soon as the quartzes emerged, she wanted to come and see them personally. Her pearl suggested that she disguise herself as… a quartz, as to not alert the other Diamonds about her little visit. They toured around the Earth and she fell in love with it, but she didn’t know what her colony was doing to it.” Garnet tilted her head, she had so many questions already:

“This isn’t anything like the Pink Diamond we’ve heard from Rose or the others. Besides, isn’t she de-”

“You don’t know anything about her, trust me. It’s all lies.” He says, with a calming, therapeutic tone. “So, she tried to stop the colonization, but Yellow and Blue wouldn’t let her. When she tried to preserve life on Earth, they made her the Zoo. She pleaded with them for years, but then…” Twoie sighed, as he knew this was what made her fall apart last time. “She decided to rebel against them, alongside her Pearl. Our Pearl. Rose Quartz.” He said, as he lifts up his shirt and shapeshifts his belly so Garnet could see the gem with her own eyes. “She was Pink Diamond.”

There it was. That was no quartz. Rose..._ How? How did I not foresee this? I never looked int- _But we couldn’t ha_\- _How can we know this isn’t an alternate timeline or something!?_ Her ship. Of course. That’s why we’re here, that’s what this is, but why didn’t she tell us!? Why didn’t Pearl tell us, why did she shatter herself and lie to everyone, how did Twoie discover the truth, wh- _

“Garnet, please!” Twoie pleaded as Garnet started shaking. She was pulling herself apart. “You couldn’t have known. I understand if you have to unfuse over this. You didn’t fall in love because of her, you _have every right to be mad at her_, but there’s nothing to be mad at _each other_ about!”

_He’s right. _He’s right. _This is not how we _fall apart.

Garnet collects herself, looking at the horizon, her visor off, in tears. But at least now they were crying together. Twoie was also in tears, but he wasn’t sure if they were tears of sadness from reliving the story of his awful, awful mother, or of relief, from finally being able to be _honest _with someone. Finally _helping_ someone, after having let them suffer in silence for _so long_.

“So, I assume you have… questions?” Twoie asked, half-jokingly. _Of course she had,_ _even he still had questions about it._

“…Why did she have to get us involved?” Garnet asks, still shaken, but better.

“She never knew about fusion. As a Diamond, she only really knew that fusion was only for practical purposes, and that different gems fusing was wrong. When she saw you, she decided to help you, not just to fight for Earth, but for the freedom of Gems like you too.” Twoie looked away from her for a second, eyes filled with guilt. “Or so I’ve been told. I don’t think it’s all that optimistic and excusable, but everything I know about her is from behind rose-tinted glasses.”

“So, who told you? Pearl? Why didn’t she tell us _sooner!?”_ Garnet inquired, frustrated and distraught.

“I don’t know if other gems have this sort of thing, but Pink Diamond gave her an unbreakable command for her to not tell you. You’ll see what I mean, when she wants to say anything about it she’ll put her hands over her mouth like this.” Twoie then puts his hands to his mouth. Garnet’s eyes widen. “She _physically can’t_ talk about it. Until I come in, after learning the truth.” That made a lot of sense. Garnet knew Rose entrusted Pearl with a lot of secrets she didn’t entrust anyone else with, but she never saw the connection. And she never thought anything of that little gesture, just that it was something she did when she was nervous, but all this time, she- she was _trying to tell them_. _And Rose- Pink let her suffer like that for centuries. _“How’d you figure it out, then? Is this why you took us to this place? Is there something here that helped you figure it out?” She pointed to the knees of Pink Diamond’s ship. “This is her ship, right? I didn’t recognize it at first, but… There it is.”

“She found a way to tell me eventually. The short version is that she pretends to lose her cell phone inside of her Gem, and inside, I watch her memory of faking Pink’s shattering. She shapeshifted into Rose and poofed her. That’s why she doesn’t do shapeshifting, by the way.” _That makes a lot more sense than it just being a Pearl thing_, Garnet thought. “When I came to this place, I never actually understood what those ‘weird pink cliffs’ were, anyhow.” Twoie admits, looking away in embarrassment. “…You’re not kidding?” She teases him. “I was just a little kid, alright? I barely knew who Pink Diamond was, let alone what her ship looked like!” he defends himself, feeling slightly ashamed. “I was just joking, Twoie.”

As they sit and think, staring at the clouds, Garnet has a sudden realization. "This is what broke us up last time, right?"

"Yeah..." Twoie responds. "I'm glad you didn't break up _this_ time. It's fine if you still want to unfuse-"

"It's okay, Steven. You were right." She smiles, a sad but stoic smile: "There's nothing _between_ Ruby and Sapphire to be mad at. It's Pink Diamond's fault, not theirs. Even if she never told us to be 'the answer' we'd still love eachother." Twoie hugs her, and she hugs him back. "When the day comes where we have to pretend to fight, they can do it if they have to. I'll be fine." She stares at Twoie's belly. "So... Yesterday I thought there were zero Pink Diamonds alive, and today I find out there are two of them."

“Oh don't worry, she's still _very_ dead, this is just her gem." Twoie is silent for a moment as he remembers the day when he was torn apart. _SHE'S GONE._ "But that's a story for another day." Garnet knows something is up, but decides to leave it for now.

"That’s what got the other Diamonds to listen. They’ve been mourning _her_ for thousands of years now. If everything goes as planned, he’ll get them to disband their colonies and armies, heal the corrupted gems.” He says, but his smile falters. He’s hiding something again, but this time she was going to dig deeper. “What about the experiments? And fusion?”

“The experiments… Haven’t been healed just yet. We’re still trying to figure out a way to help them. And while some gems still hate fusion, nobody’s getting shattered over it. They’re still all getting used to it. It’s only been a few years, after all.” Well, the future couldn’t be completely perfect. Otherwise he’d be a lot happier. Come to think of it, he hardly sounded happy about it at all. ”What about you?”

“What about me?” Twoie tries to dodge the question, looking at Garnet with tired, sleepy eyes. “I mean, everyone else is so happy and-”

“That’s what I mean, everyone _else_. If the future is so bright for everyone, what’s _your _future like?” Twoie sits on the question for a while, staring into the cold night sky. It was getting colder. “D-Doesn’t matter, right? Anyway, it’s about time we get home, it’s almost morning, and they can’t suspect I told you anything.” Garnet sighs. “…You’re right. We still need to talk about this, but…”

She puts on her visor, and it glimmers for a moment. “They’ll be coming home soon; we have to go _right now_. Any important events in the near future I should know about?” Twoie thinks for a moment. “Ah! That. You’ll have to save me again soon! Exciting, right?” Garnet shudders as she remembers when he almost suffocated in the warp stream. If only she had listened to him sooner. “What from?”

“We’ll find the source of the warp pad robot things soon. It’s in the Kindergarten. He’ll… He’ll pull a classic Steven and try to make friends with the gem who’s running the robots." He facepalms. She smiles. "Let him try, then save him before he gets squashed. It ends up being important.”

“You’re being really casual about this. Do you almost die… often?” Garnet asks, worried.

“Yep! I think you save me the most times, actually. I guess you were always my future buddy!”

They laugh and laugh as they mount Lion and prepare to head home. A new day was almost beginning, and for a long time in a while, Twoie was genuinely happy. He had finally been honest with someone, changed something for the better. Garnet was still internally debating the ramifications of Rose Quartz’s betrayal, at least she knew that now Ruby and Sapphire weren’t going to suffer through it alone. And neither was Twoie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the support on the first chapter!! i didn't expect people to actually like it haha


	3. Rose's Scabbard

“You _can’t_ understand how I feel! _None of you had what we had!_” Pearl yells out, holding Rose’s sword in its scabbard.

“She probably just wanted to protect you, like everyone else!” Steven suggests, trying to calm her down.

“What do you know!? You never even _MET_ her!” she yells out, punching the wall next to the front door. Suddenly, Rose’s painting begins to fall towards the creaky wood floor…

And it does, tearing itself down the middle.

Pearl runs away.

“FINE! Go cry about it!” Amethyst yells out, but nobody seems to notice.

An awkward silence is all that remains as what’s left of Rose’s portrait sits on the floor, waiting to be picked up. Steven breaks the ice:

“Garnet?” He looks at her, trying to understand her. “Is she okay?” She looks away. “Well, I’m gonna go find her. Do you know where she went?”

Lion growls. “I’m going to assume that means you do.” As they leave, Twoie just… stands there.

This event was important enough to leave unchanged, even if Twoie’s heart insisted otherwise. It was one of those foundational moments that led him to become the kind of kid who saved the galaxy, even if it’s also part of what led him to where he is today. _But saving the galaxy matters much more than some future personal issues, why risk it?_ He couldn’t afford to take chances with the fate of the universe, even if he ended up having to hurt for it. Again.

“Garnet… You gonna pick that up?”

He didn’t even notice how long they had been standing there.

“Suit yourself.” Garnet had also been standing still.

“I can’t quite reach up there.” Amethyst throws out an obvious excuse, nervous.

“Shapeshift.”

Silence fills the room once more.

* * *

It was almost 3 AM. Twoie sat at the center of the Burning Room, sipping on some black coffee, waiting for Garnet’s arrival. They had agreed to meet there before daybreak after whatever they had planned out for the day was over, and it’s not like he was going to sleep much anyway. He gets up as the door opens.

“Hey Garnet.”

“Hey, Twoie.”

Even if Gems didn’t sleep, Garnet certainly looked tired. “All going as planned?”

Twoie yawned. “Yeah, kind of. You were supposed to use future vision and not let the painting fall, but I think that’s it.” He takes a moment to think of any other changes in his past, but it seemed to have went as planned. “I don’t think any of them noticed. We should try to be more discreet, though.”

Garnet sits with her legs crossed, in a meditative pose. “I foresaw the painting’s fall, but I didn’t have the instinctual reaction of your Garnet to save it.” She takes off her visor as she starts stretching. “It’s a shame future vision can’t help with predicting yourself.”, she says, smiling tiredly as he moves to sit next to her.

“You never told me what happened when you went to help her. How can you be so sure that part didn’t change?” Twoie cringes as he thinks back to when he almost fell off and died and Pearl didn’t bother to help him up, to when Pearl asked if Rose could see her through his eyes. It was like he barely even mattered to her back then, just the gem stuck in his navel. “I talked to little Steven about it. It certainly matched up.”

Garnet squints as she notices the changes to Twoie’s expression. “…You didn’t _want_ it to match up, did you?” He sighs and shakes his head. No use lying to Garnet about it. “Pearl almost got me killed, again. Like in the Warp Stream.” Or when he was a baby and she nearly pulled his gem out. “But it’s okay. He’ll comfort her about Rose and she’ll be fine.”

“But will you be?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s just another near-death to add to the collection! Haha-”

“No, I don’t mean past Steven. I mean _you_. We could’ve changed this. I understand that we have to keep the future in sync, but was keeping that really necessary?”

Twoie stiffens up as he gets defensive. “T-This is fine. I’ll live!” He says, sipping his now lukewarm coffee nervously. “Besides, I can’t change it. It might be important to… To become who I grow into.”

Garnet stops to think for a moment. _To who he grows into._ Did little Steven have to suffer every little thing that Twoie did in order to dismantle the empire? She knows how hard it must have been for him, how hard it _is_ being for him… The both of them. Why does he have to bear _every_ load? He hadn’t changed anything on purpose yet, regardless of her suggestions.

He steers the conversation off course. “Please, Garnet. We can talk about this later. Something _really_ important is going to happen soon. Something that we can’t afford to change even the slightest details of.”

“Which is?”

Twoie takes the last sip of his coffee as he prepares for the long explanation. “Lapis, Peridot and a Jasper will be arriving from Homeworld soon enough.” Garnet puts her visor back on, determined. “Will we be able to fight them off?”

“I’ll tell you all the details, So, first Lapis will send…”

He still remembered most of the details of this event. Garnet was surprised to hear that she was going to go down that easily to Jasper, but happy that she was going to kick her butt later. And his first meeting with Sapphire and Ruby seems to be a good one. Nothing to change there. He had stopped to collect his thoughts shortly after he told her about the crash landing.

“…What happens then?”

“Jasper’s gonna ask Lapis to fuse with her to destroy us. Lapis… Will agree.”

Garnet gasps, but Twoie just continues the story. “When they fuse, Lapis will trap both of them under the ocean as Malachite. It will be painful. They will stay as Malachite for months. Eventually, we’ll find them, and Lapis hasn’t fused with anyone else since.”

Garnet was paralyzed with shock. She didn’t even know how to react. “…Are you _sure _we can’t change this?”

“No. Especially not this one.”

“Why!?”

“Jasper asks Lapis, and she agrees, I don’t think we could convince her in time, so we’d have to poof Jasper before they fuse, and that would change almost everything. The gems searching for Malachite is something that leads to a lot of other important events, too. It’d change almost everything. I’m sorry.”

Garnet suddenly hugs Twoie, surprising him. “It’s okay.”

Twoie hugs back, sniffling. “I’m so sorry.”

The question was now hanging in Twoie’s head, shining through the fog: What _could_ he change? Memories come flooding in his mind, finally set with a purpose again: He could _help others_ again, before they even needed his help in the first place. He started to think of ways to help Lapis. _What if I do this? What if I told that to her?_ But try as he might, knowing her, there didn’t seem to be a way to help her that didn’t change the future too much. He could bear whatever came to him, well, he did bear, but Lapis didn’t deserve to suffer.

Garnet suddenly has an idea. _Maybe I can change his mind if it's about someone else. That's a start._

His attention shifted as he noticed Garnet had her eyes set in the distance, focused at a horizon that wasn't there. She wanted to help them, too. “Is there a chance?”

“I- I can’t see far enough to tell you if things would change too much. But… There’s a way we can help her. Specifically, you can help her.”

Back in business. “How?”

“Let me and the others go through the events normally. Sneak into the ship while we’re fighting at the beach. Since you can get in the cells, go and talk to her. You know her well but she hasn't met you, and you won’t be able to convince her not to fuse, but you can at least… At least give her hope while she’s suffering.”

Twoie smiles in anticipation. “Thank you so much, Garnet! I could never be confident in changing something like that without your future vision.”

Garnet smiles back. “That’s what future buddies are for.”

She hopes her bluff worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooh ominous ending!  
this one took a while longer to bake but it's a big setup! some mild foreshadowing here and there lmk if you can piece it together!!  
:)


	4. Lapis Lazuli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twoie and Garnet plan a way to help Lapis in whatever way they can.

Twoie and Garnet had long prepared for this. He knew exactly when the perfect opportunity was to go in, as soon as they start to fight. She predicted that they wouldn't check on Lapis after the fight. All he had to do was sneak in and wait for them to put her back in the cell.

He waited on a corridor next to the cell, listening for their footsteps. As she had predicted, they moved right past him. Twoie eyed Lapis as she walked past, being carried by Jasper. As she moved to open her mouth, he looked directly at her and put his finger to his mouth, gesturing her to keep quiet.

Jasper threw Lapis in the cell, walking away with a strange grin on her face. This was his chance. Her eyes were like pinpricks; Twoie could tell how confused she was, but he knew that she would only get more confused from now on. As he moved to enter the cell, she started shaking her head nervously, ever quicker as he got in, unfazed by the cell door.

Lapis didn’t understand the slightest bit of what was going on. Did Steven… Reform? But he was-

“Hey, Lapis…”

Even his voice was different.

“It’s okay. I understand you’re confused and scared right now. I just want you to know that I’m here with you, whatever happens.”

“I don’t _want_ your help! I’ve already made things bad enough for y-“

“I don’t care about that, I care about you.” Twoie said as he hugged her, crying.

“W-“ She was startled, but eventually hugged back, holding back tears. For a moment, there was peaceful, understanding silence. All he had to do was find the right words to… To help her. Garnet said that he couldn’t change that they were going to fuse anyway, regardless of what he said. But even then, he wasn’t completely certain on her predictions's accuracy, since she doesn't know Lapis personally yet.

“I’m not the Steven you know.”

She suddenly jumped back from the hug. “Who are you!?”

“I’m from the future. Listen-“

“You’re from the future!? How-“

“Lapis, please! There isn’t much time left before the others wake up and we have to be quiet.”

“What’s going to happen!?”

_That’s one way of getting to the point_. He breathed a sigh of relief as she calmed and sat back down. He sat next to her, his mind burning with doubt over every syllable he spoke, as they risked the future he already sacrificed so much to protect.

“The ship is going to crash. When it does, you’ll…”

His lips trembled as he thought of the next words. They were the ones who would make it or break it. he decided to start over again, letting it all out: “Jasper… will be defeated in the battle against Garnet.” She listened attentively, nodding at every word that slowly came out of his mouth. “When the ship crashes… She’ll want to fight the Gems… By fusing. With you. You agree.”

Lapis furrows her brow. She would never- “You trap her and yourself inside the ocean.”

Oh. Of course. That was how she would help Steven and the others, make things a little better for them. That’s how she was going to help them. “You’ll suffer. Every day you live as Malachite, you’ll suffer. But I have a plan.” He puts down a pocket map of Beach City. “Once you fuse, try to direct Malachite over to this little island.” He points towards a spot on the map. It was Mask Island. From what little they know of her movements while she was in the ocean, he would estimate that she would get there in two or three days. “Since whatever you know might leak into Jasper as Malachite, I can’t tell you anything else. Except that it’s a challenge.” A clever little detail. He knew Jasper couldn’t deny a chance to brawl it out with the great Rose Quartz. Of the future, no less.

“When did you get smart?” Lapis joked, as they suddenly got rocked back into the wall. The ship was taking off. “Around the age of 15…” He blushed in embarrassment.

“But… How will you know I’ve made it there?”

“Astral projection.”

“Wh-“

“Plenty of sleep. Don’t ask.” Garnet was really keen on using this idea as soon as Twoie mentioned it during planning. He wasn’t sure why.

She giggled, stroking his hair. “You’re such a mystery. If you’re not Steven, how do I call-“

“Twoie! Lapis!”

Right on time.

“Hey, Steven! Let me handle this. Go get Sapphire.” Said Twoie, smiling at his so-far successful mission. “Yeah, we gotta go get her, Steven!” a Ruby trying a little too hard to look nervous points at Twoie. “You got this, buddy?”

“I got this, Ruby.” They wink at each other.

Steven looks at the both of them, looking very confused. “Uhhhh… Okay! Let’s go get her!” he says, running after Ruby. _Oscar-worthy performance right there._ _She isn’t as used to acting as if she doesn’t know the future as Sapphire_, Twoie thought.

“Twoie… That’s what you call yourself?” Lapis tilts her head to the side, curious. “Yep.”

“Wow, not a very creative name for a time traveler. Twoie. Two.” He chuckles, then she looks at him with tired, yet unflinching eyes. “I- I’ll try, Twoie. If I was going to fuse with her in the future anyway, the least I could do is try.” Even if she wasn’t the same Lapis who sacrificed herself to help Steven, she knew she would’ve done it without a hitch. And now here he was, doing his all to help her before she even did that. Or, after. And a different Steven. Time travel is confusing.

Suddenly, the ship starts rumbling and Twoie suddenly summons a bubble, enveloping him and Lapis. “This thing’s gonna crash soon, hang on tight!”

“Twoie, what happens if I fuse with you and poof her instead or something?” Lapis asks, naturally. He gulps. “Can’t.” What does that even m-

_ **CRASH** _

The bubble crashes and bounces, finally falling in the ocean. Twoie announces hastily: “I’m gonna pop the bubble, so you’ll have to swim your way up, _Don’t let the others know just get grabbed trust me-“_

Lapis was confused before, but now she really had absolutely no idea what’s going on; As the bubble popped, she swam back to the shore. Suddenly, she saw-

The Gems. Steven. A kneeling Jasper.

“Don’t think you’ve won!” she said, wounded and tired. “Huh?”

Lapis suddenly flies in their direction, getting grabbed. “Come here, brat!” Guess this is what he meant. “Aw, don’t fly off so soon.”

“Lapis, listen. Fuse with me!” _Ah, there’s the ticket. Guess I better act surprised._ “_What!?”_

Garnet squints. Could’ve acted that part better. As Jasper went through her spiel, she thought of just refusing and running. She certainly could do it. But she trusted Steven… Twoie. She wasn’t going to be the Lapis who runs away from everything anymore.

“_Just say yes…_”

Lapis holds out her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are heating up!!  
on another note: *blue future buddy *


	5. Full Disclosure

_Slurrrrp._

A sleepy Twoie takes a long sip of his morning coffee, as he sits and thinks in the old Burning Room. He couldn't reach Malachite in his sleep, but it didn’t bother him too much, since it had only been a day since they went in the ocean. Besides, he hadn’t slept that long in years, and it seemed like he could project to others fine. He did have some fun messing with Lars.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t have reasons to worry. Their schedule was booked for the next few days. He begins to mark some dates in their newly placed calendar. _The escape pod_. He could change that, and he knew Garnet would insist, so he might as well. _Jamie_. Might as well not happen, except maybe him becoming an actor might come up later? He just scribbles a question mark. Oh, and can't forget, they have to deal with the seasonal bubbling of Amethyst's self worth issues. No use trying to change that one, but you might as well try.

As he kept adding dates and times to the calendar, he thinks of ways to be as inconspicuous as possible. Only Garnet and him could access the room, discounting the puddle in Amethyst’s room that leads to it that they patched up so they could speak of the future in peace. It was a fine meeting place, for now. They’d have to clean up before Peridot is unbubbled, but nobody would bat an eye at an old calendar in a bubble.

The door slowly opened. Garnet’s arrived.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Good morning.” The door closes behind her.

Garnet attentively studies the calendar, looking at their schedule. She hoped Malachite would arrive on the island on an otherwise unimportant day. Garnet could always just disappear for a while under the guise of an important mission or a sudden shift her future vision. But Twoie was another story. She knew the others had grown a little suspicious of him, especially Pearl. It didn’t matter how many times she tried to convince her he could be trusted; those suspicions wouldn’t be so easily dispelled. That’s just how she is… _Was. Well, is. _They were gonna help her get over it eventually.

“Done cleaning up the wreckage?” Twoie asked, snapping Garnet back to reality.

“Just about. Anything from Lapis?”

“Nothing, as expected. It’s likely they arrive in a few days anyway. The island’s pretty far.” He takes another sip of his coffee, now colder. “I’m worried about her.”

Her attention moves away from the calendar. “I am too, but from what you’ve told me, we’ve already changed things for the better.”

He shifts his head in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“You told me Lapis would take over and chain them both to the ocean. Yesterday they just fused and dived in. I think Jasper wants to go to the island as much as Lapis does.”

“That’s true, she took the bait pretty well.” Twoie stares at the bottom of his mug, empty. “But the one who beat her was Alexandrite, and just barely. How are we gonna win the fight by ourselves?”

Garnet kindly takes his empty mug and puts it in a bubble. There must be more than a dozen of them now, from their many days of planning and conversing in the room. She was going to clean them up later, but there wasn’t a lot of time. “We train. Is there anything else on the planner for today? How’d the Connie thing go?”

He shrugs. “I let it happen naturally. They’ll grow closer because of it, at least. It’s a cute little harmless mistake.” He suddenly remembers the day when he gave himself up to homeworld, for everyone’s sake, and she was annoyed at him for it. He was still slightly bitter about it, even after apologizing to her. “There are other mistakes more worthwhile of unmaking.”

Well, at least he considered it and thought it through, even if he gave her that ‘traumatic flashback’ look just now. He seemed a lot more open with changing things after they planned out their first encounter with Malachite, but he was still rock-solid when it came to changing his own past. “It’s your call. Come on, let’s go get some practice.” Garnet grabs Twoie by the hand, guiding him to the door. Suddenly, she turns to look at him, grinning in excitement. “Besides, I want to see Sunstone badly. You know how it is.”

* * *

Something was fishy. And Steven knew it.

It all started once he woke up in the early morning after a bad dream and saw Twoie sneaking into Rose's room. He didn't think anything of it and was going back to sleep until he saw Garnet _also_ sneak in _her_ room just after. There was a strange vibe they gave off. Garnet had an excuse, because she had future vision, and Twoie... Well, he was from the future, so that's even better. But the way Ruby and even Lapis acted… It had all been a little bit too artificial. Like everyone else knew something he didn’t. Were they preparing him for something? Was this another kind of test? When were they going to start trusting him?

Garnet wouldn’t tell him anything about what happened, either. She didn’t even seem to be that worried! He had future vision for a while so he knew it wasn’t good enough for her to know that everything would be okay! He was used to Garnet keeping her cool, but the way she hinted at what happened… Something was off.

And now the two of them leave from the same door, Garnet's door, in the middle of the morning! What had they discussed in there? Twoie was just him, he knew that, but he hardly ever talked to anyone, let alone him...self. He always spoke in cryptic warnings, seemingly never _preventing_ something bad from happening, but always being there after, always there when he needed him. It was great that he was there for him, but if Twoie knew the future, why did he just _let_ him have that fight with Connie? She was right! And he knew that! He talked to him about it after and he was very thankful for it but why didn’t he just tell him _before_ it happened!?

He never thought in the future he would start talking and acting like Garnet. I guess that makes a little more sense now.

He must be trying really hard not to mess up the future, like how she does with Future Vision? Steven shudders. Maybe he should just remember his lesson from the time thing in Amethyst’s room and stop messing with time. He knew everything anyway, so only good stuff should happen. Right? 

For now, he laid the question to rest. But the truth would come out eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're back! sunstone and malachite kaiju fight coming soon O.O  
little hiatus is over, expect a new chapter soon-ish!


	6. Sunstone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunstone makes her debut at the Sky Arena.

The day was still shining bright on Twoie and Garnet as they warped to the Sky Arena, floating peacefully up above. Amethyst and Steven are going to spar here eventually, so it’d be for the best if the arena came out of this debut largely untouched, Twoie thought. Garnet didn’t have a care in the world.

As they floated down to the middle of the floating arena, he turns to look at her, worried. How was fusion with someone from the future even going to work? Would it even be the same sunstone? Is she even the same Garnet? Strange concepts to grasp, but it was now or never. “Are you ready?”

Garnet nodded, taking the initiative, holding Steven by his hands, twirling and moving when suddenl- _That’s all it took?_

** _*POOF*_ **

“Don’t worry everybody, Suns-“ Her mind suddenly snaps in two. What in the worl-

Memories. The closest thing she had to a memory was her name, a vague recollection of lifting an enormous mech, and participating in some kind of… safety seminar? And that’s all. The rest was undecipherable. The memories weren’t even inaccessible, just completely incomprehensible; there were whispers of events that hadn’t happened, wouldn’t happen, or didn’t happen, and she couldn’t tell them apart. Feelings indescribable and thoughts completely unfamiliar permeated her mind. Something entirely new, or was it?

After standing, her mouth completely agape, for what felt like an eternity, suddenly she snaps back to reality. “Kids, if you ever hear voices in your head, or feel like you’re losin’ your mind, talk to an adult as soon as possible!” She could feel that Garnet already had a thousand questions for Twoie, but those could wait. “Time to get crackin'! _Don’t try this at home._”

_Whoosh!_ Sunstone suddenly jumps in the air, far above the clouds, cutting through the sky. She then extends her four arms and diverts her momentum, gracefully floating back to the island. She certainly wasn’t lacking in the mobility department. But what about combat?

Her weapon. She puts her fists together, turning into gauntlets, much like Garnet’s, with two of Steven's shields attached to her palms. A strange mix. She never really got to experiment with them. What could they do? Vaguely, she reminisces about using them as suction cups to climb up that big Diamond mech (!?). Something tells her these bad boys could do more than climb, though.

Suddenly, she has an idea. She slashes at the air with her gauntlet-arm. As she does, the little cup-shield suddenly detaches and goes flying towards the horizon! “A frisbee!?” It then makes a sudden arc back. “No, a boomerang!” She catches it with her gauntlet, reattaching itself. “Aww, yeah!”

What about her physical strength? Where could she test that out? Ah, of course! There were some Diamond symbols up on the top of the tower, and it seemed like every party involved really felt like those were the most appropriate thing to punch. “Remember not to-“ She leaps towards them, throwing both shields in the Blue and Yellow diamond insignias, perfectly bisecting them. “-take your anger out on fragile objects!” she says, just before landing a massive swing on the White Diamond symbol, sending loud shockwaves across the arena. “Just try to chillax, and…” her eyes turn to the last, already half broken Pink Diamond insignia.

She uppercuts it, sending it flying far, far away, a fiery trail left by the blow. She hadn’t even noticed the faint pink glow surrounding one of her gems. “…take a deep breath.” She takes a moment, and it retreats into the gem.

Malachite wasn’t going to stand a chance, especially if this was holding back.

“That was so _cool!_” Steven suddenly says, stars in his eyes, coming out from behind a pillar in the arena. Wh-

“Steven!?” She- They unfuse.

What.

“How much of that did you catch?” Garnet says, getting up from the sudden split. “I followed you guys when I heard the warp pad, and I arrived just as you fused! That was so cool, you didn’t even need to dance! How did you do that!? Sorry, by the way.” Twoie scratches the back of his head, also caught completely off-guard by Steven’s presence. “It’s fine… You’ll get there eventually. Just… Don’t tell anyone else about this, okay?”

Steven knows that tone of voice. “Why not?” he tilts his head to the side. Twoie gulps. “Um…” He thinks of a dozen excuses but throws them all away. He was really hard to lie to and convincing him not to go tell everybody would be almost impossible. Garnet turns to answer instead. “We were just testing to see if Twoie could fuse and not mess the future up. He wanted to know in case he had to protect you from Malachite. It’s up to him to decide if he wants to fuse with the others or not.”

If the others knew about their fusion, they would want to fuse too. She knew that if he fused with any of them and they felt Twoie's memories flooding in, they would never stop questioning him, and he would never be able to answer them. Refusing to fuse would be just as suspicious, making it look like it was Garnet and him hiding things from everyone else. Now she understood why Rose only ever fused with Pearl, or with everyone at once. Pearl already knew the truth and Obsidian had too many thoughts for any of them to really pop out. Pink Diamond was a much better liar than Twoie ever could (or should) be.

“I decided to go with Garnet because we only really get to fuse way, way later in the future, so almost nothing would be changed if she had fused before.” A half-truth. “I wouldn’t wanna spoil the fun of you meeting up with Amethyst or Pearl’s fusions, though.” He slowly brings himself to play with Steven’s hair a little, just as he liked it. “It’s just a little precaution, in case we find Malachite early or something.”

Steven knew something was up, but was too caught up in the surprise and awe of Sunstone to really keep probing. It’s not like Twoie or Garnet would tell him, anyways. “Alright, I won’t tell them. We can keep this secret for now.” He clings to Twoie’s shirt. “But you gotta teach me how to use mom’s powers! I wanna be cool like that, too!” Mom’s powers. Ugh. “I guess I can teach you how to use your shield. We can start right now, so long as you promise me not to tell anyone else.” Steven nods, determined. Finally, he could be useful! “Okay.”

Garnet goes to sit in the back, watching them attentively. “Your powers, as you already know, are deeply tied to your emotions.” He takes a defensive stance, which Steven quickly copies. “So, to start, think of…”

* * *

When Steven had gotten the hang of summoning his shield, it was sundown. Twoie was throwing his shield at the distance, teaching Steven how to aim it and how to bounce it. Garnet was happy for them. Twoie had so, so much on his mind, he really needed a break like this. For the minutes they were together as Sunstone, she felt it all come pouring down. She thought she was starting to understand him, but she really didn’t. The constant worry about changing the tiniest things. The reluctance to reveal anything. The freezing self-doubt. The anger, such a powerful anger, at the thought of Pink Diamond. Hers couldn’t compare. He was holding back, all this time. All this powerful emotion, all boiling deep within him, and he was keeping it all together, not for himself, but for everyone else. _Emotion_ that was _power_. And now he’s here, making the same sacrifices all over again, and changing almost nothing about them. _Why?_

He reluctantly accepted the plan to help Lapis and Jasper, but he would tense up at the _mention_ of changing his own past, saving his own suffering. She was getting to him, slowly and steadily, but she needed to change him before it’s too late. If not for Twoie, for Steven’s sake. Garnet knows deep in her heart that such a happy future couldn't necessitate his suffering, it _shouldn't_. But he doesn’t, and he’s the one who’s lived through it. So how could she argue with him?

_I’ll get to him eventually. _She sighed._ I’ll change his mind._


	7. Going Swimmingly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twoie attempts to reach Malachite in his sleep again.

It had been a tiresome but fun day for Twoie. Teaching little Steven how to summon his shield hadn’t been on his schedule, but rarely if ever did everything go according to plan. Now, though, he finally had some time to rest. Nothing important was supposed to happen tomorrow either, so maybe he could teach Steven some more tricks. The spike bubble, perhaps, or the boxing gloves.

_His dream powers_. Twoie didn’t quite have the hang on _those_, either, but he was better than when he was younger, when his actual dreams got all mixed up with gem stuff. Thinking about the person he wanted to connect while trying to sleep seemed to be part of how he did it as a kid, not unlike what Connie told him of lucid dreaming _(she was so smart!)_. So, for now, it was best if his train of thought headed to Malachite, as much as he didn’t want to think about her.

_What if Lapis lost control, and they’re back to being trapped in the ocean floor?_ He knew Jasper would never back down to a challenge, and the way they acted on the beach didn’t seem to corroborate that. But what if Jasper knows what he told Lapis in the ship? Sometimes errant thoughts can get loose in a fusion’s head. He wasn’t sure how well he held it those in with Sunstone, as Garnet ominously said that they _had to talk_ _later_ before wishing him good night. But with Malachite, who knows how it’s working out.

_Aah, Twoie, Too much worrying, too little sleeping_, he reminds himself. He really needed some proper sleep. Suddenly, he hears an insistent little snore; seems like little Steven had already fallen asleep. He had never thought about how loud Steven had been while sleeping. Was he also this loud and nobody ever told him? _Eugh._

Twoie begins adjusting himself in his makeshift couch-bed. Garnet had helped him make it a little bit more comfortable the day before, and it was just cozy enough for him to begin drifting into sleep.

_Maybe it’s better not to think of anything at all._

_Yeah._

** _Snore…_ **

* * *

And there he was.

His ‘dream dimension’ looked a lot differently from how it was when he was a kid. Twoie had only truly grasped it when he got knocked out by Yellow. His other experiences with dream powers were a lot more vague, which he never understood. He hoped that one of these times, whatever power that made him talk to Lapis in his dreams would do it again, as soon as she reaches the Island. But things are rarely that easy.

Well, time to get to work.

Twoie slowly gets up and begins looking around at the towering statues floating around him. He swam up, getting a better view at what the gems were doing. Amethyst seemed to be eating something, laid back and relaxed. Pearl was standing still, neck craned down, intently watching something. Maybe she was watching Steven sleep? _Ugh._ He hoped not. Garnet was also sat down, wearing a very serious, pensive expression. He started to swim closer, then turned away, as to not breach her privacy. A little farther away was Peridot, who seemed to be looking at her screen. He had almost forgotten how tall she was with all of her enhancements. He didn't know where Steven was, but his snoring was so loud that...

_..._Wait. His attention turns to the sound. He can discern three different sets of snores, each slightly off-tune to the next. It's like...

Twoie turned back to look at his own physical body. One of the snores seemed to be his own, or rather, his body's. I guess he was a loud sleeper after all. Twoie then turns his head and starts wimming towards where the other two seemed to be coming from. Little Steven didn’t have a statue, much like himself, and he-

Oh.

Looking closer at Steven, he realizes that his gray, material body and his glowing pink dream body weren’t exactly in the same position. His dream body was laying the other way around, having adjusted his sleeping position. Not only that, but it seems like whatever small shifts he made while asleep had changed his breathing enough to be completely out of sync with his real body. Had he _literally_ gotten himself comfier while asleep?

Twoie’s mind is flooded with questions. _What the heck!? _Was he like this every time he slept? Was this related to when he first connected to Malachite? He thought about testing his theories, but he didn’t want to wake him up. He just looked too snug, and besides, who knows what could change if he knew about his dream powers early.

_Well, no time for that. _Suddenly, Twoie's eyes hone in on a teal silhouette in the horizon. _Looks like she’s farther away this time._ With how the other figures were aligned, it seemed to him that his distance to the figures was in some way related to their physical distance, as well as emotional. And there was no telling how that could change with Malachite, anyway. 

Well, if he couldn’t reach her the last time, and he slept a_ lot_ last time, he could hardly reach her now, especially given that she’s further away. He gives it a shot anyway, in case nothing wakes him up for the next eight hours or so that he thinks it would take.

Maybe he should take swimming lessons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a mini-chapter since it's all setup, mild headcanonry and not-so-subtle foreshadowing
> 
> always figured steven's dream psychic stuff would be more relevant especially given how its connected to his aura (which is still a complete mystery)


End file.
